Information processing system, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, information processing apparatus, and information processing method

ABSTRACT

An information processing system includes a controller which receives an operation input of a user and an information processing unit which performs an information process based on the operation input received by the controller. The information processing unit includes a game progress unit which controls an own character in the virtual space based on the operation input of the user to draw the virtual space with the corresponding color of the own character and a battle determination unit which performs a battle determination based on a drawing state of a corresponding color of an enemy character, which is different from the corresponding color of the own character, to a virtual space and a drawing state of the corresponding color of the own character to the virtual space.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromthe prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-100714, filed on May 14,2014, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The technology herein relates to an information processing systemproviding a game in which a character is controlled in a virtual space,a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, an informationprocessing apparatus, and an information processing method.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

Conventionally, there is known a game in which a user operates anoperation input unit to control a character in a virtual space.

The game in the related art includes games such as a game in which acharacter in the virtual space is controlled while passing obstacles anddodging an attack from the enemy character, or attacking the enemycharacter, the character is aimed to arrive at a destination thereof,and a game in which the character overcomes challenges (adventures,problems, explorations, combats, and the like) given in the virtualspace to achieve a goal.

The present disclosure provides a new game in which the character in thevirtual space is controlled. Further, in the following, the charactercontrolled by a user's operation will be referred to as an “owncharacter”.

An information processing system of an exemplary embodiment includes anoperation input receiver configured to receive an operation input of auser, and an information processor configured to perform an informationprocess based on the operation input received by the operation inputreceiver. The information processor includes a game progress processorwhich controls an own character in the virtual space based on theoperation input to draw the virtual space with a corresponding color ofthe own character, and a battle determination processor which performs abattle determination based on a drawing state of a corresponding colorof an enemy character, which is different from the corresponding colorof the own character, to the virtual space and a drawing state of thecorresponding color of the own character to the virtual space. With thisconfiguration, the virtual space is drawn with the corresponding colorof the own character by controlling the own character in the virtualspace, and the battle determination is performed based on the drawingstate thereof and the drawing state of the corresponding color of theenemy character.

The game progress processor may cause the own character in the virtualspace to perform a drawing operation based on the operation input, andto draw a drawing area of the virtual space corresponding to the drawingoperation with the corresponding color of the own character. With thisconfiguration, the drawing area corresponding to the drawing operationof the own character can be drawn with the corresponding color.

The game progress processor may cause the own character to move in thevirtual space based on the operation input, and to draw a drawing areaaccording to a position of the own character in the virtual space withthe corresponding color of the own character. With this configuration,the drawing area corresponding to a position of the own character in thevirtual space can be drawn with the corresponding color.

The game progress processor may draw the virtual space with thecorresponding color of the own character based on an operation input ofone or a plurality of fellow users. With this configuration, acooperative play with another user can be allowed.

The game progress processor may draw the virtual space with thecorresponding color of the enemy character based on an operation inputof one or a plurality of opponent users. With this configuration, abattle play with another user can be allowed.

The battle determination processor may perform the battle determinationby comparing a drawn area drawn with the corresponding color of the owncharacter and a drawn area drawn with the corresponding color of theenemy character. With this configuration, victory or defeat can bedetermined by wideness of the drawn area. Further, when a play timereaches a predetermined time, the drawn areas may be compared with eachother for the battle determination.

The information processing system may further include a communicationmodule. The game progress processor may generate own character drawingevent data which indicates a content of a drawing event to draw thevirtual space with the corresponding color of the own character based onthe operation input received by the operation input receiver. Thecommunication module may transmit the own character drawing event datato the information processing system of an opponent user, and receiveenemy character drawing event data which is generated based on theoperation input of the opponent user and indicates a content of adrawing event to draw the virtual space with the corresponding color ofthe enemy character. The game progress processor may draw the virtualspace with the corresponding color of the own character and thecorresponding color of the enemy character based on the own characterdrawing event data and the enemy character drawing event data. With thisconfiguration, a communication battle game with another user isrealized. Since amount of drawing data used to draw the correspondingcolor in the virtual space is relatively large, it is not realistic tofrequently transmit and receive the drawing data in the communicationbattle game to share the drawing state. Meanwhile, according to theabove-mentioned configuration, since drawing event data indicating acontent of the drawing event having a relatively small size istransmitted and received instead of the drawing data having a relativelylarge size in the communication battle game, the drawing state in theinformation processing system can be shared among a plurality of userswithout transmitting and receiving large data in the communicationbattle game.

The own character drawing event data and the enemy character drawingevent data may include information of a position and a color of thevirtual space in which the corresponding color is drawn. With thisconfiguration, the sizes of the own character drawing event data and theenemy character drawing event data can be reduced. Further, in a casewhere the corresponding color of each character is already known,information of the character or the team to which the character belongsbecomes color information.

The own character drawing event data and the enemy character drawingevent data may include information indicating a time of an event. Thegame progress processor may perform drawing in the virtual space basedon the time information when the corresponding color of the owncharacter and the corresponding color of the enemy character are drawnin an overlapping manner. With this configuration, even when thereception of the enemy character drawing event data is delayed due to atransmission delay, a temporal relation with the own character drawingevent data can be exactly understood. This situation is also the samewith the information processing system of the opponent user; that is,even when the reception of the own character drawing event data isdelayed in the information processing system of the opponent user, thetemporal relation with the enemy character drawing event data can beexactly understood, so that the temporal relation is matched with thatof the information processing system of the user of the own character.

The communication module may perform communication through the Internet.With this configuration, the battle play or the cooperative play withanother user can be performed through the Internet.

The game progress processor may control the own character in the virtualspace based on the operation input, and make an attack on the enemycharacter. With this configuration, a battle game accompanying attackscan be realized.

The game progress processor may draw the virtual space with thecorresponding color of the own character when the attack of the owncharacter on the enemy character is successful. With this configuration,a drawing range of the corresponding color of the own character can bewidened through the attack on the enemy character.

The game progress processor may draw a peripheral area of the enemycharacter in the virtual space with the corresponding color of the owncharacter when the attack of the own character on the enemy character issuccessful. With this configuration, through the attack on the enemycharacter, surroundings of the enemy character can be painted with thecorresponding color of the own character.

The game progress processor may display drawing results of thecorresponding color of the own character and the corresponding color ofthe enemy character in the entire virtual space based on the operationinput. With this configuration, the user can confirm drawing results ofthe corresponding color of the own character and the corresponding colorof the enemy character.

The virtual space may be a 3D space. With this configuration, a drawinggame can be realized in the 3D space.

The game progress processor may draw a ground of the 3D space with thecorresponding color.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereinan information processing program of an exemplary embodiment, theinformation processing program causing a computer to function as aninformation processor configured to receive an operation input of auser, control an own character in the virtual space based on theoperation input to draw the virtual space with a corresponding color ofthe own character, and perform a battle determination based on a drawingstate of a corresponding color of an enemy character, which is differentfrom the corresponding color of the own character, to the virtual spaceand a drawing state of the corresponding color of the own character tothe virtual space. Even with this configuration, the virtual space isdrawn with the corresponding color of the own character by controllingthe own character in the virtual space, and the battle determination isperformed based on the drawing state and the drawing state of thecorresponding color of the enemy character.

An information processing apparatus of an exemplary embodiment includesan operation input receiver configured to receive an operation input ofa user and an information processor configured to perform an informationprocess based on the operation input received by the operation inputreceiver. The information processor includes a game progress processorwhich controls an own character in a virtual space based on theoperation input to draw the virtual space with a corresponding color ofthe own character, and a battle determination processor which performs abattle determination based on a drawing state of a corresponding colorof an enemy character, which is different from the corresponding colorof the own character, to the virtual space and a drawing state of thecorresponding color of the own character to the virtual space. Even withthis configuration, the virtual space is drawn with the correspondingcolor of the own character by controlling the own character in thevirtual space, and the battle determination is performed based on thedrawing state and the drawing state of the corresponding color of theenemy character.

An information processing method of an exemplary embodiment includesreceiving an operation input of a user, controlling an own character inthe virtual space based on the received operation input to draw thevirtual space with a corresponding color of the own character, andperforming a battle determination based on a drawing state of acorresponding color of an enemy character, which is different from thecorresponding color of the own character, to the virtual space and adrawing state of the corresponding color of the own character to thevirtual space. Even with this configuration, the virtual space is drawnwith the corresponding color of the own character by controlling the owncharacter in the virtual space, and the battle determination isperformed based on the drawing state and the drawing state of thecorresponding color of the enemy character.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an example non-limiting configuration ofan information processing system;

FIG. 2 shows an example non-limiting screen of a scene in which an owncharacter shoots an ink gun to paint a ground;

FIG. 3A shows an example non-limiting screen of a scene in which theenemy character is attacked;

FIG. 3B shows an example non-limiting screen of a scene in which theattack on the enemy character is successful and surroundings of theenemy character is painted with a color corresponding to the owncharacter attacked;

FIG. 4A shows an example non-limiting screen of a scene before acharacter is assimilated into the ink painted on the ground;

FIG. 4B shows an example non-limiting screen of a scene after acharacter is assimilated into the ink painted on the ground;

FIG. 5 shows an example non-limiting elevated screen;

FIG. 6 shows an example non-limiting virtual space of which the groundis drawn;

FIG. 7 shows an example non-limiting drawing operation which isperformed based on drawing event data;

FIG. 8 shows an example non-limiting drawing states which areinconsistent;

FIG. 9 shows an example non-limiting drawing states which areinconsistent;

FIG. 10A shows an example non-limiting virtual space which is drawn witha corresponding color using time information;

FIG. 10B shows an example non-limiting virtual space which is drawn withthe corresponding color using the time information;

FIG. 11A shows an example non-limiting virtual space which is drawn witha corresponding color using time information; and

FIG. 11B shows an example non-limiting virtual space which is drawn withthe corresponding color using the time information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF NON-LIMITING EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an information processing system according to an embodimentof the technology will be described with reference to the drawing.Further, the embodiment to be described below shows an example in a casewhere the technology is implemented, and the technology is not limitedto the specific configuration to be described below. A specificconfiguration according to the embodiment may be appropriately employedto the implementation of the technology.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of an example non-limiting configuration of aninformation processing system. An information processing system 100 ofthe embodiment provides a game in which the virtual space is drawn witha corresponding color of the own character by controlling the owncharacter in a virtual space, and a battle determination is performedbased on the drawing state thereof and a drawing state of acorresponding color of an enemy character. The information processingsystem 100 includes a controller 11 serving as an operation inputreceiver, an information processing unit 12 serving as an informationprocessor, a transmitting/receiving unit 13 serving as a communicationmodule, and a display unit 14 as an output device which displays avideo. The output device may further include a speaker which outputs avoice and a vibrator which vibrates and outputs a dynamic force.

Further, FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the information processingsystem 100 which includes the controller 11, the information processingunit 12, the transmitting/receiving unit 13, and the display unit 14 andis provided as an integrated apparatus, but these components may bedistributed into a plurality of devices and transmit/receive informationtherebetween in a wired or wireless manner as needed. For example, theinformation processing system 100 may be a portable game apparatus whichincludes the controller 11, the information processing unit 12, thetransmitting/receiving unit 13, and the display unit 14, or may beconfigured to include a game apparatus body which integrally includesthe information processing unit 12 and the transmitting/receiving unit13, the controller 11 which communicates with the game apparatus body bya near field communication, and the display unit 14 which receivesdisplay data from the game apparatus body through a cable and outputsthe data. Further, the information processing unit 12 may be present ona communication network.

The information processing unit 12 includes a game progress unit 121which progresses the game based on an operation input into thecontroller 11 and data on an opponent user or a fellow user received bythe transmitting/receiving unit 13 from the information processingsystem 100, a battle determination unit 122 which performs the battledetermination based on a game result of the game progress unit 121, astencil buffer 123, and a depth buffer 124.

The game progress unit 121 and the battle determination unit 122 of theinformation processing unit 12 is realized such that a general purposeprocessor such as a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU) performs a game program as an informationprocessing program of the embodiment of the technology. The game programis provided using a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, andthe game progress unit 121 and the battle determination unit 122 arerealized such that the information processing unit 12 reads the gameprogram out of the storage medium. Further, the game progress unit 121and the battle determination unit 122 may be realized such that the gameprogram is received through the transmitting/receiving unit 13, and isinstalled and executed by the information processing unit 12.

The transmitting/receiving unit 13 transmits various types of data toanother information processing system 100 through a communicationnetwork such as the Internet, and receives data transmitted from anotherinformation processing system 100 through the communication network. Inthe embodiment, particularly, drawing event data to be described belowis transmitted and received by the transmitting/receiving unit 13through the communication network. The transmitting/receiving unit 13may include an interface for wire communication, or may include acommunication module for wireless communication. The display unit 14outputs graphic data generated by the GPU of the information processingunit 12.

The game progressed by the game progress unit 121 and the battledetermination performed by the battle determination unit 122 will bedescribed. In the game of the embodiment, the own character and theenemy character are provided in association with colors different fromeach other. A color associated to each character will be referred to asa corresponding color. In the game, the own character is operated in a3D virtual space to paint the ground with the corresponding color of theown character, and similarly the enemy character paints the ground withthe corresponding color of the enemy character.

The own character may have one or plural fellow characters which areoperated by another user (a fellow user). In this case, the owncharacter and the fellow character form an own team, and the owncharacter and the fellow character have the same corresponding color.Therefore, the cooperative play can be performed by a plurality ofusers. Further, the enemy character may have the fellow characters. Inthis case, these characters form an enemy team, and the charactersbelonging to the enemy team have the same corresponding color.

Further, the characters may be divided into three or more teams. In thiscase, the corresponding color is set to be different for each team, thecharacters belonging to the same team with the own character become thefellow characters, the other teams become the enemy teams, and thecharacters belonging to the enemy teams become the enemy characters. Inthe embodiment, a battle between the own team including the owncharacter and the plurality of fellow characters and the enemy teamincluding the plurality of enemy characters will be described as anexample. In the following, the corresponding color of the own team isreferred to as an “own color”, and the corresponding color of the enemyteam will be referred to as an “enemy color”.

Further, the enemy character may be operated by the game progress unit121 according to the game program based on the operations of the owncharacter and the fellow character and the game program, or may beoperated according to an operation input of another user. In a casewhere the enemy character is operated based on the operation input ofanother user, the battle play with another user is realized. In theembodiment, an example in which another user operates the enemycharacter will be described.

Further, the fellow character may be operated by the game progress unit121 according to the game program based on the operations of the owncharacter and the enemy character and the game program, or may beoperated according to an operation input of another user. In a casewhere the fellow character is operated based on the operation input ofanother user, the cooperative play with another user is realized.

The respective characters including the own character, the fellowcharacter, and the enemy character can move in a common 3D virtualspace. Further, the respective characters can also change theirdirections in the virtual space. Furthermore, the respective charactershave their own color ink, and can paint the ground around theirpositions in the virtual space with their own color ink. Further, in theembodiment, the coloring of the ground of the virtual space with thecorresponding color of each character during the game will be expressedas “the ground is painted with the corresponding color (of the ink)”when it is focused on a game progressed in the 3D virtual space, andwill be expressed as “the ground is drawn with the corresponding color”when it is focused on an information process in the informationprocessing unit 12.

The user issues a drawing event by operating the own character, and canpaint the ground of the virtual space. Specifically, an area is paintedwith the corresponding color according to a position and a direction ofthe own character in the virtual space, and a type of the drawing event.As the type of the drawing event, “Shooting of the ink gun”, “Paintingwith a roller”, and “Attack on the enemy character” are included. Thetype of the drawing event corresponds to the shape of the area to bedrawn.

In the drawing event “Shooting of the ink gun”, the ink is painted in alanding area when the ink is shot from the position (the start point) ofthe own character toward a direction the own character faces. Theshooting of the ink gun may be performed in a plurality of shootingmethods, a shooting direction may be adjusted in a vertical directionbesides a horizontal direction, and a shooting strength may be adjusted.FIG. 2 shows an example non-limiting screen of a scene in which the owncharacter shoots the ink gun to paint the ground. In the drawing event“Painting by a roller”, when the own character moves in the virtualspace, the ground is painted with the ink by the width of the roller inthe moving direction. Herein, a plurality of different roller widths maybe provided.

The drawing event “Attack on the enemy character” refers to shooting theink gun toward the enemy character, and when the shot ink hits the enemycharacter, the attack becomes successful. When the attack is successful,the attacked enemy character scatters the ink of the corresponding colorof the attacking character to the surroundings. Therefore, the groundaround the attacked enemy character is painted with the correspondingcolor of the attacking character. In this way, a drawing range of theown color can also be increased through the attack on the enemycharacter.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show examples non-limiting screens in which the owncharacter succeeds in attacking on the enemy character to paint thesurroundings of the enemy character with the own color. Specifically,FIG. 3A shows an example non-limiting screen of a scene in which theenemy character is attacked, and FIG. 3B shows an example non-limitingscreen of a scene in which the attack on the enemy character issuccessful and surroundings of the enemy character is painted with acolor corresponding to the own character.

The drawing event “Shooting of the ink gun” is defined by a type of thedrawing event (Shooting of the ink), a position of the character, ashooting direction (horizontally, or horizontally and vertically), atype of the ink gun (in a case where a plurality of guns are present),strength (in a case where the shooting is adjustable), and a color ofthe ink (the corresponding color of the character). Further, the drawingevent “Painting by the roller” is defined by a type of the drawing event(Painting by the roller), a position of the character, a movingdirection, a width of the roller (in a case where a plurality of rollersare present), and a color of the ink (the corresponding color of thecharacter). Further, the drawing event “Attack on the enemy character”is defined by a type of the drawing event (Attack on the enemycharacter), a position of the enemy character, and a color of the ink(the corresponding color of the attacking character).

When moving in the virtual space, each character is assimilated into theink according to the operation of the user in an area painted with theink of the corresponding color of the own team, so that the charactercan disappear. In a state where the character is assimilated into theink and disappears, the character can move in the virtual space at ahigh speed. Since the own character disappears, the own character is notdisplayed in the screen of the user who operates the enemy character.FIGS. 4A and 4B show examples non-limiting screens of scenes in whichthe character is assimilated into the ink painted on the ground.Specifically, FIG. 4A shows an example non-limiting screen of a scenebefore the character is assimilated, and FIG. 4B shows an examplenon-limiting screen of a scene after the character is assimilated.Further, the moving speed of the own character is slowed down in an areapainted with the corresponding color of the enemy team. In this way, thegame progress unit 121 performs movement control of the character withrespect to the input operation from the controller 11 according to thedrawing state at the position of the own character. In other words, thegame progress unit 121 causes the character to move at a speedcorresponding to the drawing state at the position of the own character.

Further, when a predetermined operation is performed by the user duringthe game, the game progress unit 121 displays the drawing states of thecorresponding colors of the respective teams in the entire virtual spaceat that time. Specifically, the game progress unit 121 displays thecorresponding colors of the respective teams in an elevated screen ofthe virtual space. FIG. 5 shows an example non-limiting elevated screen.Along with the elevated screen, sizes of the drawn areas of therespective teams may be displayed by a graph or numerical values.

In the virtual space, the ground once painted with the correspondingcolor of a certain team can be repainted by painting the ground thereonagain with the corresponding color of another team. In other words, theground of the virtual space is drawn with the lastly painted color. Eventhough the ground is an area painted with the enemy color, the area ispainted with the own color by painting the area with the own colorthereon, and vice versa.

In the game progress unit 121, the drawing (coloring) of the virtualspace with the corresponding color is performed based on drawing dataindicating which portion (pixel) of the virtual space is drawn with thecorresponding color of which team. The game progress unit 121 fills atexture of a size covering the entire virtual space with the color ofthe ink according to the drawing data, projects the texture to thevirtual space, and thus draws the virtual space. Specifically, when thecolor of the ink fills the texture, the game progress unit 121 writes asymbol indicating a team as the drawing data in the stencil buffer 123.In a case where a drawing operation is performed with the correspondingcolor of a certain team, only when information matched with the symbolindicating the team is written in the stencil buffer 123, a command ofdrawing the corresponding color of the team is executed through the GPU.FIG. 6 shows an example non-limiting virtual space of which the groundis drawn. The state of the drawing is displayed by a texture of3200×3200 pixels.

In a case where a battle game or a cooperation game is performed bycommunicating with other users who operate the enemy characters or thefellow characters, when the drawing data is frequently transmitted andreceived, an appropriate sharing of the drawing state with the otherusers is disadvantageous in a method of regularly transmitting andreceiving all the data since the magnitude of the drawing data isrelatively large.

Therefore, in order to share the drawing state in a case where aplurality of users play the game through communication, each informationprocessing system 100 generates and transmits a relatively small size ofdrawing event data instead of a relatively large size of drawing datafrom the transmitting/receiving unit 13 to the information processingsystem 100 of another user according to an issued drawing event duringthe game, and also receives the drawing event data instead of thedrawing data from the information processing system 100 of another user.The drawing event data is data indicating the content of the drawingevent in order to generate the drawing data, and the game progress unit121 generates the drawing data based on the drawing event data. In thisway, since a communication battle game is performed by transmitting andreceiving the drawing event data instead of the drawing data, acommunication load is not increased and the plurality of users can sharethe drawing state at all time.

The game progress unit 121 generates own character drawing event databased on the operation input received by the controller 11. The owncharacter drawing event data indicates the content of the drawing eventfor drawing the corresponding color of the own character in the virtualspace. The transmitting/receiving unit 13 transmits the own characterdrawing event data generated by the game progress unit 121 to theinformation processing system 100 of another user, and receives thedrawing event data of the enemy character or the fellow characteroperated by another user from the information processing system 100 ofanother user.

FIG. 7 shows an example non-limiting drawing operation which isperformed based on drawing event data. In this example, the drawingevent is defined by a center position, a radius, and a color, and thedrawing operation is performed by a circular painting. In the example ofFIG. 7, Area A71 is painted with orange according to the drawing eventdata such as “Position: (3, 4), Radius: 5 m, Color: Orange”, Area A72 ispainted with blue according to the drawing event data such as “Position:(6, 5), Radius: 4 m, Color: Blue”, Area A73 is painted with blueaccording to the drawing event such as “Position: (6, 3), Radius: 2 m,Color: Blue”, Area A74 is painted with orange according to the drawingevent data such as “Position: (4, 7), Radius: 3 m, Color: Orange”, andArea A75 is painted with blue according to the drawing event data suchas “Position: (7, 7), Radius: 1 m, Color: Blue”.

In the communication battle game or cooperation game, when a pluralityof characters color (draw) an overlapping area at almost the same time,the drawing states may be inconsistent between the plurality of usersdue to a transmission delay in a communication network in some cases.FIGS. 8 and 9 show examples non-limiting drawing states which areinconsistent. As illustrated in FIG. 8, in a case where the drawingevent that the enemy character paints Area A82 partially overlappingwith Area A81 with the corresponding color of the enemy character occursimmediately after the drawing event that the own character paints AreaA81 with the own color occurs, the game progress unit 121 of the user ofthe own character paints

Area A81 with the own color according to the drawing event by the owncharacter. Then, when the drawing event data of the enemy character isreceived, the game progress unit 121 repaints the overlapping portion ofArea A81 painted with the own color with the enemy color, so that AreaA82 is painted with the enemy color.

On the other hand, similarly, even in a case where the drawing eventthat the enemy character paints Area A82 partially overlapping with AreaA81 with the corresponding color of the enemy character occursimmediately after the drawing event that the own character paints AreaA81 with the own color occurs, Area A82 is painted with thecorresponding color of the enemy character according to the drawingevent that the area is painted with the corresponding color of the enemycharacter on the user side of the enemy character as illustrated in FIG.9. Then, in a case where the drawing event data of the own character isreceived, Area A81 comes to be painted with the corresponding color ofthe own character so that a portion of Area A82 is repainted with theown color. Therefore, the area on the user side of the own character(FIG. 8) and the area on the user side of the enemy character (FIG. 9)are different from each other in the drawing state (that is, a colorpainted thereon) of the overlapping area. Actually, since the drawingevent that the enemy character paints Area A82 with the correspondingcolor of the enemy character occurs immediately after the drawing eventthat the own character paints Area A81 with the own color occurs, thedrawing state of FIG. 8 should be shown to all the users originally.

In order to avoid such inconsistency in the drawing state, the drawingevent data includes information of an occurrence time of the drawingevent in addition to the information indicating the content of thedrawing event. The information indicating the content of the drawingevent, for example, may be the information for defining the drawingevent described above. The game progress unit 121 paints the area of thevirtual space according to the drawing event data generated by itselfand the drawing event data of the enemy character obtained from theoutside. At this time, the information of the occurrence time of thedrawing event is recorded in the 3200×3200 depth buffer 124corresponding to a texture of the virtual space, and the informationgenerated later is left. Therefore, even when an order of the occurrenceof the drawing events and an order of drawing processes in the virtualspace according to the drawing events by the game progress units 121 aremixed with each other due to the delay caused by the communication, thefinal drawing state is not different for the information processingsystem 100 of any user.

FIGS. 10A and 10B show examples non-limiting virtual space which isdrawn with a corresponding color using time information. FIGS. 10A and10B show cases where the drawing event that Area A101 is painted withorange occurs before the drawing event that Area A102 partiallyoverlapping with Area A101 is painted with blue. In FIGS. 10A and 10B,the virtual space to be drawn is illustrated on the left, and a depthvalue to be stored in the depth buffer 124 is illustrated on the right.In this example, as illustrated in FIG. 10A, the game progress unit 121first processes the drawing event that Area A101 is painted with orange,and then as illustrated in FIG. 10B processes the drawing event thatArea A102 is painted with blue. Herein, the drawing event data of thedrawing event painting Area A101 is “Position: (2, 5), Radius: 5 m,Color: Orange, Time: 90”, and the drawing event data of the drawingevent painting Area A102 is “Position: (8, 5), Radius: 5 m, Color: Blue,Time: 100”.

As illustrated in FIG. 10A, the game progress unit 121 draws Area A101with orange, and a depth value of 90 corresponding to Time 90 at aposition corresponding to Area A101 is stored in the depth buffer 124.Next, as illustrated in FIG. 10B, the game progress unit 121 draws AreaA102 with blue, and a depth value of 100 corresponding to Time 100 at aposition corresponding to Area A102 is stored in the depth buffer 124.At this time, an overlapping area between Area A101 and Area A102 isdrawn with blue such that the blue area having a depth value of 100 isput on the orange area having a depth value of 90, that is, one having alarge depth value (later occurrence time of the drawing event) becomesthe finally drawn area.

FIGS. 11A and 11B show examples other non-limiting virtual spaces whichare drawn with the corresponding color using the time information.Similarly to the examples of FIGS. 10A and 10B, FIGS. 11A and 11B alsoillustrate a case where the drawing event painting Area A101 with orangeoccurs earlier than the drawing event painting Area A102 partiallyoverlapping with Area A101 with blue. However, as illustrated in FIG.11A, in these examples, the game progress unit 121 first processes thedrawing event painting Area A102 with blue, and then as illustrated inFIG. 11B processes the drawing event painting Area A101 with orange. Thecontents of the respective pieces of drawing event data are the same asthose of the examples of FIGS. 10A and 10B.

As illustrated in FIG. 11A, the game progress unit 121 draws Area A102with blue, and a depth value of 90 corresponding to Time 90 at aposition corresponding to Area A102 is stored in the depth buffer 124.Next, the game progress unit 121 draws Area A101 with orange, and adepth value of 100 corresponding to Time 100 at a position correspondingto Area A101 is stored in the depth buffer 124. At this time, in a casewhere time is not taken into consideration, since the painting isperformed in the drawing order, the overlapping area between Area A101and Area A102 is drawn with orange which is made in a later drawingprocess. However, the game progress unit 121 of the embodiment draws theoverlapping area between Area A101 and Area A102 with blue such that theblue area having a depth value of 100 is put on the orange area having adepth value of 90, that is, one having a large depth value (lateroccurrence time of the drawing event) becomes the finally drawn area.

Further, in an actual game, a numerical value obtained by adding anoffset value which is differently set for each character generated bythe drawing event to an occurrence time value is used as the depthvalue. For example, in a case where the depth value is given in units ofintegers based on time, the respective characters are assigned with theoffset values such as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and so on which are smaller than aminimum unit of the depth value based on time and are differently setfor the respect characters. In other words, in a case where the drawingevens of a plurality of characters occur at the same time, the order ofthe drawing events of the characters are determined in advance.Therefore, even in a case where the plurality of drawing event datapartially overlapping with at least the drawing area are generated atthe same time, the depth values do not become equal, so that it isguaranteed that the final result is uniquely determined.

The battle determination unit 122 performs the battle determination bycomparing the drawing state of the own color and the drawing state ofthe enemy color at the time of the game over. Specifically, the battledetermination unit 122 compares a range of the ground painted with theown color and a range of the ground painted with the enemy color. As acomparison result, in a case where the range of the ground painted withthe own color is wide, it is determined that the own team wins, and in acase where the range of the ground painted with the enemy color is wide,it is determined that the enemy team wins. In other words, the battledetermination unit 122 determines victory or defeat based on wideness ofthe painted color range. In a case where a plurality of teamsparticipate, a team which paints a widest range with the correspondingcolor is determined as a winner. Further, the game will be over at thetime when a predetermined time elapses from the beginning.

Specifically, as described above, since the drawing operation by thegame progress unit 121 is performed according to a symbol representing ateam which is stored for every pixel in the stencil buffer 123 as thedrawing data, the battle determination unit 122 acquires areas of thecorresponding colors of the respective teams by counting the number ofpixels at the time of the game over and compares these areas.

As described above, according to the information processing system ofthe embodiment, there is provided a new game in which the virtual spaceis drawn with the corresponding color of the own character bycontrolling the own character in the virtual space, and the battledetermination is performed based on the drawing state and the drawingstate of the corresponding color of the enemy character.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the face to be painted withthe ink by the character is described only as the “ground” of thevirtual space, but embodiments of the technology are not limitedthereto. The face to be painted with the ink by the character may bewalls, ceilings, and the like on the path where the character moves inthe virtual space, or may be surfaces of arbitrary objects.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiments, in order to share thedrawing states in a case where the plurality of users play the gamethrough communication, a relatively small size of drawing event data istransmitted and received instead of a relatively large size of drawingdata. Further, in order not to generate inconsistency in the drawingstate among the plurality of users, information of the occurrence timeof the drawing event is included in the drawing event data, but insteadof the drawing event data, the drawing data may be transmitted andreceived together with the information of the occurrence time of thedrawing event. Even in this case, the size of data to be transmitted andreceived becomes large, but it is possible to avoid the above-mentionedinconsistency in the drawing state among the plurality of users.

1. An information processing system comprising: an operation inputreceiver configured to receive an operation input of a user; and aninformation processor configured to perform an information process basedon the operation input received by the operation input receiver, whereinthe information processor includes: a game progress processor whichcontrols an own character in a virtual space based on the operationinput to paint the virtual space in a corresponding color of the owncharacter, and a battle determination processor which performs a battledetermination based on a painting state of a corresponding color of anenemy character, which is different from the corresponding color of theown character, to the virtual space and a painting state of thecorresponding color of the own character to the virtual space, whereinthe game progress processor controls the own character moreadvantageously when the own character is in an area painted in thecorresponding color of the own character than when the own character isin an area not painted in the corresponding color of the own character.2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein thegame progress processor causes the own character in the virtual space toperform a painting operation based on the operation input, and to painta painting area of the virtual space corresponding to the paintingoperation with the corresponding color of the own character.
 3. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein the gameprogress processor causes the own character to move in the virtual spacebased on the operation input, and to paint a painting area correspondingto a position of the own character in the virtual space in thecorresponding color of the own character.
 4. The information processingsystem according to claim 1, wherein the game progress processor paintsthe virtual space in the corresponding color of the own character basedon an operation input of one or a plurality of fellow users.
 5. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein the gameprogress processor paints the virtual space in the corresponding colorof the enemy character based on an operation input of one or a pluralityof opponent users.
 6. The information processing system according toclaim 1, wherein the battle determination processor performs the battledetermination by comparing a painted area painted in the correspondingcolor of the own character and a painted area painted in thecorresponding color of the enemy character.
 7. The informationprocessing system according to claim 1, further comprising acommunication module, wherein the game progress processor generates owncharacter painting event data which indicates a content of a paintingevent to paint the virtual space in the corresponding color of the owncharacter based on the operation input received by the operation inputreceiver, the communication module transmits the own character paintingevent data to the information processing system of an opponent user, andreceives enemy character painting event data which is generated based onthe operation input of the opponent user and indicates a content of apainting event to paint the virtual space in the corresponding color ofthe enemy character, and the game progress processor paints the virtualspace in the corresponding color of the own character and thecorresponding color of the enemy character based on the own characterpainting event data and the enemy character painting event data.
 8. Theinformation processing system according to claim 7, wherein the owncharacter painting event data and the enemy character painting eventdata include information of a position and a color of the virtual spacein which the corresponding color is painted.
 9. The informationprocessing system according to claim 7, wherein the own characterpainting event data and the enemy character painting event data includeinformation indicating a time of an event, and the game progressprocessor performs painting in the virtual space based on the timeinformation when the corresponding color of the own character and thecorresponding color of the enemy character are painted in an overlappingmanner.
 10. The information processing system according to claim 7,wherein the communication module performs communication through theInternet.
 11. The information processing system according to claim 1,wherein the game progress processor controls the own character in thevirtual space based on the operation input, and makes an attack on theenemy character.
 12. The information processing system according toclaim 11, wherein the game progress processor paints the virtual spacein the corresponding color of the own character when the attack of theown character on the enemy character is successful.
 13. The informationprocessing system according to claim 12, wherein the game progressprocessor paints a peripheral area of the enemy character in the virtualspace with the corresponding color of the own character when the attackof the own character on the enemy character is successful.
 14. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein the gameprogress processor displays painting results of the corresponding colorof the own character and the corresponding color of the enemy characterin the entire virtual space based on the operation input.
 15. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein the virtualspace is a 3D space.
 16. The information processing system according toclaim 15, wherein the game progress processor paints a ground of the 3Dspace in the corresponding color.
 17. A non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium having stored therein an information processing program,the information processing program causing a computer to function as aninformation processor configured to receive an operation input of auser, control an own character in the virtual space based on theoperation input to paint the virtual space in a corresponding color ofthe own character, and perform a battle determination based on apainting state of a corresponding color of an enemy character, which isdifferent from the corresponding color of the own character, to thevirtual space and a painting state of the corresponding color of the owncharacter to the virtual space.
 18. An information processing apparatuscomprising: an operation input receiver configured to receive anoperation input of a user; and an information processor configured toperform an information process based on the operation input received bythe operation input receiver, wherein the information processor includesa game progress processor which controls an own character in a virtualspace based on the operation input to paint the virtual space in acorresponding color of the own character, and a battle determinationprocessor which performs a battle determination based on a paintingstate of a corresponding color of an enemy character, which is differentfrom the corresponding color of the own character, to the virtual spaceand a painting state of the corresponding color of the own character tothe virtual space.
 19. An information processing method comprising:receiving an operation input of a user; controlling an own character inthe virtual space based on the received operation input to paint thevirtual space in a corresponding color of the own character; andperforming a battle determination based on a painting state of acorresponding color of an enemy character, which is different from thecorresponding color of the own character, to the virtual space and apainting state of the corresponding color of the own character to thevirtual space.
 20. The information processing system according to claim1, wherein the game progress processor controls appearance and/ormovement of the own character more advantageously when the own characteris in an area painted in the corresponding color of the own characterthan when the own character is in an area not painted in thecorresponding color of the own character.
 21. The information processingsystem according to claim 20, wherein the game progress processorchanges the appearance of the own character so as to correspond to thecorresponding color of the own character when the own character is in anarea painted in the corresponding color of the own character.
 22. Theinformation processing system according to claim 20, wherein the gameprogress processor changes the appearance of the own character so as tobe assimilated into ink of the corresponding color of the own characterwhen the own character is in an area painted in the corresponding colorof the own character.
 23. The information processing system according toclaim 20, wherein when the own character is in an area painted in thecorresponding color of the own character, the game progress processormoves the own character at a higher speed than that when the owncharacter is in an area not painted in the corresponding color of theown character.
 24. The information processing system according to claim20, wherein when the own character is in an area not painted in thecorresponding color of the own character, the game progress processormoves the own character at a slower speed than that when the owncharacter is in an area painted in the corresponding color of the owncharacter.
 25. The information processing system according to claim 1,wherein the game progress processor changes the appearance of the owncharacter so as to correspond to the corresponding color of the owncharacter when the own character is in an area painted in thecorresponding color of the own character.
 26. The information processingsystem according to claim 1, wherein the game progress processor changesthe appearance of the own character so as to be assimilated into ink ofthe corresponding color of the own character when the own character isin an area painted in the corresponding color of the own character. 27.The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the gameprogress processor causes the own character to move at a higher speedwhen the own character is in an area painted in the corresponding colorof the own character than when the own character is in an area notpainted in the corresponding color of the own character.
 28. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein the gameprogress processor controls the own character more prejudicially whenthe own character is in an area not painted in the corresponding colorof the own character than when the own character is in an area paintedin the corresponding color of the own character.
 29. The informationprocessing system according to claim 1, wherein the game progressprocessor moves the own character at slower speed when the own characteris in an area not painted in the corresponding color of the owncharacter than when the own character is in an area painted in thecorresponding color of the own character.